Cost of Friendship
by riding-the-wind
Summary: What is the true cost of loving someone? Are we better off alone after all?


_'They're all gone,' _Naruto thought to himself as he sat on his bed staring numbly at the wall._ 'This war is finally over, and I'm the only one left.' _

It had begun a year ago, this war that everyone who survived it would remember in their nightmares for the rest of their lives. Sasuke had gotten hundreds of rouge nin and attacked Konoha in the middle of the night, killing many valuable shinobi in the initial surprise attack.

_Why was Tenten on patrol that night? She didn't stand a chance even with Chouji!_

In the dark Tenten couldn't see the enemy well enough to kill them with her various weapons after Chouji was ambushed and murdered. They were the first of the Rookie 11-now all at least jonin-to perish in the stupid war.

_And Kiba, poor Kiba, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did after Akamaru was killed._

Akamaru had been killed in the first attack, and although Kiba had managed to escape with his life he hadn't been the same since his beloved nin-dog's death.

_Lee, he was amazing. Surrounded by ninja using ninjustus and still managed to take down quite a few with him._

Everyone always knew that the fact that he couldn't do ninjustu would be his downfall one day, but it still shocked everyone when the ever optimistic and determined Rock Lee had been killed.

_That was when it really started going downhill for those of us left, wasn't it? That and when Neji-the amazing genius Neji-died trying to save Hinata's life. But it didn't matter, did it, because she died just last month._

Neji had tried to protect the Hyuuga heiress but had failed utterly. He died after taking several blows meant for her, and she had lain comatose in the hospital for six months before finally slipping away. Everyone had thought Neji invincible, but he died just as easily as anyone else.

_Poor Sakura, it nearly killed her when she heard that Ino died, her and that lazy-ass Shikamaru. That left only Shino and us left...._

Ino had died when someone stabbed her body while she tried to take over someone else's. Without her to help him Shikamaru had floundered until he was finally killed also.

_And Shino, I really owe him one. He saved my life at the cost of his own. If only I'd been paying attention..but no, I saw Sasuke fall and I just fell apart...._

Shino had taken the blow meant for him while he held Sasuke as he fell. Naruto wanted to tell Sasuke that it was all his fault everyone was dying, but as he stared into those fading black eyes he couldn't find the words. Sasuke, the eternal source of all his pain, and his one time best friend. Sasuke had uttered a quiet and heartbreaking, 'Sorry..' before he had died, and Naruto had fallen apart.

"Naruto! Naruto! Please come quick! Sakura...she's dying," A flustered messenger said after bursting into Naruto's room.

Naruto ran faster than ever before to the hospital where he found Sakura slumped in a chair next to Konohamaru's bed. "He...he'll live, Naruto...I managed to save someone...at least......" Sakura murmured before falling off her chair and dying in Naruto's arms. And so the dead last was the only one that lived from the Rookie 11.

_Is this what it means to have friends? To have them sacrifice themselves for you, to the point where you would rather be dead than alive, just so you don't have to hold another friend as they die. I wish I had never made any friends, the loneliness and pain of my childhood was nothing compared to this....I almost wish I had never become a ninja, but this way, at least, I can kill those bastards who did this to my village._

And so Naruto when out and killed the remaining ninja. There was a brilliant flash of red, and when the messenger sent to see what caused it came back, he was carrying the mangled corpse of Uzimaki Naruto.

The Rookie 11, the most promising generation of shinobi ever, were no more. Naruto learned the true cost of friendship, and everyone that survived the war learned that there really isn't such a thing as a happy ending.


End file.
